October 3, 2008 Raytheon’s KillerBee, a 10-foot wide UAV designed for surveillance and reconnaissance, has been successfully demonstrated in a simulated combat environment. A Raytheon flight operations crew delivered the 30 pound KillerBee system to a remote location using Humvees and achieved set up and launch within 45 minutes before executing the operational scenario and retrieving the aircraft with a net-recovery system.

The KillerBee has a payload capacity of 5,800 cubic inches, a payload weight of 30 pounds, a flight range of 100 miles, and 15 hours endurance. The craft is designed for the US Navy’s Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems and the US Marine Corps’ Tier II missions. The test demonstrated its interoperability, integration and functionality as an end-to-end UAS combat system.

"The KillerBee is at a point where we can demonstrate an integrated combat capability," said Ken Pedersen, Raytheon Missile Systems' vice president of Advanced Programs. "Combined with Raytheon's Universal Control System, a first-of-its-kind unmanned aircraft flight station, the KillerBee can reliably insert ISR into the battlespace and then quickly deliver actionable data to a combatant commander."

The mission was conducted using U.S. Marine Corps combat operations center hardware, and the KillerBee was controlled by an operator with a variant of Raytheon's Universal Control System. The system received target input from a Javelin Command Launch Unit and an Improved Target Acquisition System from Raytheon's TOW (Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided) missile. The KillerBee electro-optical/infrared sensor was cued to the targets, before providing target confirmation back to the CLU and ITAS. The system then selected a target and cued the Javelin CLU operator through a Command and Control Personal Computer.